So…2018 is now well underway and we wonder what adventures it will bring! As you may be aware, our caravan was stolen last summer. After an urgent appeal we were overwhelmed with a multitude of kind donations and as a result of this were able to purchase a magnificent replacement caravan, which we nicknamed ‘Bailey’.
We were blown away by the outpourings of support and generosity from so many individual, trusts and organisations – the full list too long to name, but our heartfelt thanks go out to everyone. We would like to say a big thank you to the East of England Co-op for so quickly setting up a crowdfunding page for us, and also for lending us an interim vehicle, and to Ipswich Building Society for stepping in to open an account for those who didn’t want to donate online. Special thanks must go to Mid Suffolk District Councillors, for picking up on our plight so quickly and for their incredible support. We were so grateful to have been able to fully resume our service within a matter of weeks after the theft because of everyone’s appreciation of its necessity and urgency – a testament to the power of community and those who value it.
We would like to take the opportunity to thank Paul and the wonderful staff at Farnham Leisure, for their generosity and ongoing support of the Coffee Caravan, they could not have been more helpful and are genuinely kind, lovely people. Together we are looking at hosting a community day on their forecourt this coming Spring, date to be confirmed, so do keep an eye on our website calendar.
‘Bailey’ in action, with residents of Wingfield, September 2017
We were able to take Bailey out on her first visits (our final ones of 2017) to Wingfield , Somersham, Great Bricett, Finningham, Freckenham, Redlingfield, Aldringham, Thorpeness and Benhall, a task we had thought we were not going to be able to achieve after the theft, adding the gratitude of the residents of those locations to ours, and we are looking forward to setting Bailey in full swing in the months ahead. Bailey is a lovely, roomy ‘van with its own little bathroom and enough room for small gatherings on cold days, something we couldn’t accommodate before.
Of course, ‘Maj’, the campervan continues working 12 months of the year and it was great to get out and about on our first visits of 2018 to the lovely folks of Thorpeness and Mildenhall last week, for coffee mornings and information drop-ins. We hope to see you at our other visits this month, for more info drop-ins at Beccles, St James, and Westhorpe, with additional ferrule exchanges at St Luke’s Church, Beccles. We are the chosen charity for the Higham Point to Point and so will be present at the first of the series on 28th January. Check our ‘Where we’ll be’ page for our visit and events calendar and for further details and times.
